IBM® z/OS FTP Plug-in for Zowe CLI

The IBM® z/OS FTP Plug-in for Zowe™ CLI lets you extend Zowe CLI to access z/OS data sets, USS files, and submit JCL. The plug-in uses the z/OS FTP service to achieve the interaction with z/OS.

Use cases

As a z/OS user, you can use the plug-in to perform the following tasks:

• List, view, rename, and download z/OS data sets or USS files.
• Upload local files or stdin to z/OS data sets or USS files.
• List, view, and download job status or job spool files.
• Delete a z/OS data set, USS file, or job.

Using commands

important

When transferring files, data sets, or data set members, use only ASCII characters. If a file contains non-ASCII characters (such as glyphs or mathematical symbols), a translation error can happen when the file is downloaded from, or uploaded to, the mainframe. This error can result in data loss.

For detailed documentation on commands, actions, and options available in this plug-in, see our web help.

There are several methods to view Zowe CLI web help:

• Use a web browser
• Extract from a ZIP file
• Download a PDF file

Software requirements

Before you install the plug-in, meet the Software requirements for Zowe CLI plug-ins.

Installing

Use one of the following methods to install or update the plug-in:

• Installing plug-ins from an online registry
• Installing plug-ins from a local package

Creating a user profile

After you install the plug-in, create an FTP profile. An FTP profile is recommended to issue commands via FTP. FTP profiles contain your host, port, user name, and password to connect to z/OS using FTP. You can create multiple profiles and switch between them as needed.

Creating plug-in profiles using a configuration file

If you have the IBM® z/OS FTP plug-in installed and issue the zowe config init, zowe config auto-init, or zowe config convert-profiles command, the command creates an entry for a FTP profile in your zowe.config.json file.

Alternatively, you can create an FTP profile manually by adding a section that contains the configuration details to your zowe.config.json configuration file.

Creating an FTP profile with a command

1. Install the z/OS FTP Plug-in for Zowe CLI.

2. Create an FTP profile:

   zowe config init

3. If using a non-standard port, set the port number to your FTP connection:

   zowe config set profiles.zftp.properties.port <port number>

   • <port number>

     Specifies the port number for the instance.

4. If using an insecure connection, set the secureFtp value to false:

   zowe config set profiles.zftp.properties.secureFtp false

   You can now use your profile when you issue commands in the zftp command group.

Creating an FTP profile manually

1. Install the z/OS FTP Plug-in for Zowe CLI.

2. Browse to the directory C:\Users\<username>\.zowe.

3. Open the zowe.config.json configuration file using a text editor or IDE, such as Visual Studio Code or IntelliJ.

   note

   If the file does not exist, issue the following command to create the configuration file:

   zowe config init --gc

4. Add code to the "profiles" section as shown in the following example: [is this code correct? should this code include a secureFtp value?]

   "Your_ftp_profile": {
     "type": "ftp",
     "properties": {
         "host": "Your_host_name",
         "port": Your_port_number,
         "secureFtp": true
     },
     "secure": [
       "user",
       "password"
     ]
   }

5. Save the file.

   You can now use your profile when you issue commands in the zftp command group.

Issuing test commands

After installing the plug-in successfully, you can issue commands to test basic Zowe CLI functionality.

For example, you can use one of the following methods to download a data set:

• Download a data set using a default profile:

  zowe zftp download data-set USERHLQ.DATASET.NAME

• Download a data set without using a default profile:

  zowe zftp download data-set USERHLQ.DATASET.NAME --host <hostname> --port 21 --user <User_ID> --password <password> --secure-ftp false

  • <hostname>

    Specifies the host name for the instance.

  • <User_ID>

    Specifies your user name to log in to the instance.

  • <password>

    Specifies your password to log in to the instance.